Gift of the Witch
by Corvida-Margareth
Summary: "You may have heard of Thebes, and if you have, someone probably told you that in Thebes, anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. One of those things is me..." This will be a combination of Disney's lighter and softer, humorous take on mythology, with elements from my own novel series, the Mythos Cycle.
1. Chapter 1

_You may have heard of Thebes, and if you have, someone probably told you that in Thebes, anything that can go wrong,_ **will** _go wrong. One of those things is me._

The only thing I see as necessarily wrong about my family is the heap of curses stacked on our heads, but it's funny how that always seems to double back on me.

It was bad enough my great… great… great… well, it was a few generations ago, needless to say I don't have all day to explain this to you, but here's the nub: Cadmus descended to the land that would become Thebes a long while back and he found himself a curse. Apparently Ares even cares about his children when they take the form of giant snake-dragons and eat people. Too bad, really. For me.

Oh, I'm sorry, I've gone this long without an introduction.

I am Megara, princess of Thebes in Boetia, eldest of my father's daughters, twin to Megarion and younger sister to Menoikeus and Haemon. I've got a few cousins floating around, but they have less bearing on my personal identity. Why does this matter? Well, Thebes is known far and wide as the place where King Oedipus reigns with wisdom and kindness, but something went wrong in our fair city, as it often does, and it quite lacked justice. Perhaps if you care to listen, you will allow me to explain myself, before you cross the river. I cannot.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1:

Melpomene, muse of tragedy, had never been able to get enough of Thebes. The clamor, the continuous flow of pathos… it was intoxicating. She stretched out on the walls of the city, letting her hair stream in the wind, and smiled down on the Thebans. It was more or less her city, no matter what Dionysus had to say about it.

There was a degree of pity in her heart for these people, beaten down by circumstance, but all the same, she could admire the strength with which they persevered. In particular, Melpomene was partial to the group making their way to the academy just beside the gate to the city. They were surrounded by guards, even though Melpomene could see the aura of doom which surrounded the lot of them, and no amount of security could change that.

There were the daughters of King Oedipus, Antigone and Ismene, following close behind their brothers Eteokles and Polynikes. They had their black hair neatly curled behind their backs, and wore a black and white dress respectively, as if they were a matched contrasting set. Behind them were the three fine sons of Kreon, Menoikeus who would have been crown prince if there were a greater degree of justice in the world, and his younger brothers, the hot-headed Haemon and the musician, Megarion. Close at Megarion's heels was his twin sister, Megara, and it was to her Melpomene was most drawn of all.

Unseen, the goddess slid closer to them, trying to pick out some of what they were saying amongst themselves. Not much, as it happened. Thebans were a quiet bunch if they didn't have sufficient wine in their systems.

Each of them had an ironic smile, however, and Melpomene found herself wearing a similar one. One day, it would be her job to tell their stories, and she would strive to capture that wry wit that could be captured in just the curve of a mouth or the flicker of an eye.

"Sister, if you're quite finished feeding off the young…" the voice of Calliope was much subtler in Melpomene's ear than it ordinarily was, and it made the goddess jump to peer over at her sister and see the slight hint of disapproval there.

"Some of them are beginning their first day of school!" Melpomene contended. "Please, they have such _promise_ , sister, I must watch…"

Calliope made a face, but her grand features were still not ill-composed. "It is somewhat distasteful the way you hover over the doomed."

"It has always been my duty to share the misery of others," Melpomene pouted at the unfairness of this statement, and her eyes flickered in the direction of the royal students once more. "How can I tell the truth about them if I never saw them before their fates consumed them?"

Calliope sighed impatiently, but had no further complaint to lob at her sister. "Artemis is joining us at Apollo's palace at dusk, tonight. I expect you to be at rehearsal soon."

Melpomene waved a hand to show she would indeed but could not be troubled over it, just yet. "I have it on good authority that many of them will soon be dead, Callie, please… there won't be time to observe their fleeting lives for much longer!"

Calliope sighed. "I'll leave you be, but remember sister, some of them are mine."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2:

In truth, it was out of fear that Megara did not speak much to her brothers, only making a few light comments about how the day did not seem particularly overcrowded with misfortune, yet. Even saying so seemed to dangle her life-string in front of the Fates for the snipping, but she was too nervous to hold her words back.

Somehow, Ismene was doing a better job of controlling her anxiety, but she was further ahead and it was impossible to reach her without pushing past her older brothers.

Megarion was rather supportive even in his silence, but Megara was hoping for someone to either shut her up or give her enough feedback to help her relax. Her twin's temperament was not the sort to offer either, and thus she merely kept babbling as before.

Antigone, with her edgy black lipstick outlining her words, turned around and asked Megara, "Is it because Alkides isn't here to pat you on the head and tell you to calm down? Come on, some of us were already at this school last year, it's not going to be any better this year, so just cool it, will you?"

Megara's lips instantly jumped back into her mouth as if to hide from Antigone's disapproval, and she bowed her head. She wanted to back-sass her cousin, but she was firmly of the belief that her older cousin was much cooler than her. No response could ever suffice.

Megarion slipped an arm across her shoulders, and whispered, "I'm sure she's just cranky because her father told her she's got to actually pay attention to her grades this year, and that means less Haemon than usual."

"Oh, but he can't do that," Megara whispered back. "Haemon never listens to things like that, won't they just ignore it?"

"I'm sure they will," Megarion shrugged. "And it'll be at least half out of rebellious spite."

Megara rolled her eyes, as she suspected had been the intention. "I can understand that, but they should at least take school seriously."

"Ah, I do wonder if you would say that had Alkides been enrolled at Sphinx Gate," Menoikeus chuckled, falling back in the group just to talk to the two of them.

"I do miss him…" Megara sighed.

"But alas, he needed his _special_ education," Megarion jabbed her ribs with his elbow, and snickered in a perfectly _Theban_ manner.

Megara may have come up with a reply, but a fanfare interrupted her before she could unleash her venom.

Prince Kreon, Megara's father, with streaks of gray in his thick black beard, was standing in a purple robe on a platform beside the gate to the academy with his hand raised. "You are about to embark on an academic adventure the likes of which is unparalleled in all Boeotia," he said, scanning the crowd with his deep violet eyes, so dark they were nearly as black as his hair.

"It's still not Athens," Megara grumbled to her twin, who hushed her.

"As the brother-in-law to your king, it is my duty to oversee that which King Oedipus cannot, and that is why I am here to welcome all you children to school, among you several of my own. You will soon know them," he added with a glint in his eyes as he glanced over his children in the same manner as other men might count their goats before a feast day. "Do not forget this one thing as you begin your education: You are among the best in all of Greece. Prove it."

Cheers went up from the crowd, and the guards marched the young royals through the gates to what looked like a smaller-scale version of the palace they had left that morning.

As they passed Kreon, Megara looked up to catch his eye. He was looking at her, but there was something other than fatherly pride in those eyes, and it was strikingly unwelcome. She could not identify it, but even though she was looking into the eyes of her very own father, he may as well have been a stranger in a cave with a knife.

"Change your face, Meggie," Menoikeus instructed her in a low grunt. "You'll make everyone think you're a second Antigone, and the family doesn't need another drama queen."

"We already have Dionysus," Megara pointed out, noting that Haemon was casting the occasional glance over his shoulder at his siblings. Let him be jealous, they were more fun than his Tiggy anyway.

"All the more reason not to appear insane," Menoikeus said in utter seriousness.

The group came to an abrupt stop, and the guards slowly peeled away from the core group of royals, making Megara suddenly feel as if they'd walked off with her clothes and everyone was staring.

Well, they were staring even _with_ her clothes still on, so it made very little difference.

Ismene rushed back through the little group to stand next to Megara and Megarion, her face losing even the scant color which had been on her cheeks. "They're all staring, what do we do?" she whispered.

"I don't know, I've never left the palace," Megara whispered back, blushing at the admission even though everyone had already known that.

"Hey!" a sharp bark of a voice alerted them to the approach of someone who was, surprisingly, a female. She wore her hair in long, auburn curls, and her features were sun-darkened, even be-freckled. She wore a short green dress, and sandals that twined around her legs and up to her knees like climbing ivy. "This is where we start, right?"

"Ah, this is our cousin, Atalanta," Menoikeus said, as he was the only one of their number not astounded by the girl's wild appearance and unpolished accent. "Welcome to school, how did you get in before us?"

"Climbed the wall," Atalanta shrugged. "I don't know what the point of it was, you city people act like if you line up a few rocks nobody will get into a place."

"The wall is supposed to be a _hint_ ," Antigone said. "But I suppose now you're in it isn't worth trying to make you leave."

"Oh, I very well could run off, but I just met my father, and I guess it's best to stay on good terms with him. He begged me to attend school, and I always fancied myself a good girl."

"You'll be following Megara and Ismene, then," Eteokles said, finally breaking off from some whispering and snickering with Polynikes.

"Why?" Ismene asked, and the instant she realized how she'd sounded she squeaked and hid behind Megara.

"Because you're _girls_ ," Polynikes sneered in return.

"So am I!" Antigone huffed.

"But you're different," Eteokles said.

"Because you're engaged," Haemon said, wrapping an arm firmly about her waist. "Let the other girls band together, they don't have what we do."

"I'm engaged!" Megara burst out, more offended by the suggestion that she wasn't than by anything else in the conversation. "Alkides, remember?"

Polynikes waved a hand in her direction. "Just because he's engaged to you now is no guarantee he will actually marry you."

"And just because you're a prince doesn't mean you'll ever rule!" Megara lashed out, so loudly she was sure the entire city had somehow heard her.

Her cousin appeared genuinely stunned, but she turned back Atalanta's way when she heard slow clapping.

"I think I'll enjoy having this family," the wild girl said, "race you all to class!"


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3:

There was no way in Tartarus that man woman or beast could defeat Atalanta in a race, even if she _was_ going easy on the competition. For this reason, she was seated in class before anyone else could join her, wearing such a smug smile that most other girls were instantly repulsed, and retreated into their private cliques where they could fool themselves into thinking they were significant.

Megara had no such option, nor did Ismene, as they were left with the only two seats still open aside from the one Megarion took at Megara's side.

"I don't know why nobody ever tries," Atalanta huffed. "You could probably get pretty close if you tried."

"Were you talking to me?" Ismene squeaked. "Oh, I don't run… I think I'd trip."

"Not everyone actually _likes_ to run," Megara pointed out to Atalanta, somewhat surprised it was a point she had to make.

"Not you, I'm sure, twig-legs," Atalanta snickered. "Even if you didn't have twiggy legs, you've got a real problem in the hip-region."

Megara sank lower in her seat, but that couldn't hide the truth of what Atalanta had said. "I can come up with nasty nicknames for you, too," she warned. "Just you wait. I'll find your weakness and then—"

Before Megara could perfect her menacing glare, and before Atalanta could bother to notice her attempts, the door at the head of the classroom creaked open. Led by a young girl, who seemed to be well-fed for her trouble but nonetheless a bit annoyed by her job, a crickety old man wobbled into the room.

"Students… I foresee all your grades…" he croaked at the Thebans, who like a well-trained chorus all gasped.

"Then why are we here?" Atalanta blurted out.

"Because if we didn't attend, there'd be nothing to foresee," Megara pointed out, merely relieved that there was something she could best Atalanta with.

"Precisely, Megara Kadmea," Teiresias said. "Your grades will be impeccable. Except for in gym. That one, you will pass with a beta minus, but extra credit for research papers."

" _Opa_ ," Megara muttered, making her twin snicker.

" _I'm sure_ that'll be the _most_ interesting aspect of your career here," Teiresias said with a grim thing that was almost a smile. Megara hated that look on a seer, and even if Teiresias was the only seer she'd ever met, every time he addressed her, he seemed to look through her with unseeing eyes and _that_ smile. It was as if he knew something terrible would happen to her, but wouldn't let her know what it was.

Why couldn't he just warn her and stop being so rude?

"As for the rest of you, I foresee that at least half of you will forget what I'm about to tell you, but I'll say it, anyway: All you first-years will be expected to keep up with our rigorous curriculum, and I will _personally_ look into the future to see if you are studying. If I see you slacking off too often…" he waggled one knobby finger at the cringing students.

No Theban was foolhardy enough to discount the power of Teiresias, and though they equally feared his ability to watch them when they were unaware of it, they'd been brought up to understand that was always a possibility since they were children.

Having thought of children, Megara looked to the little girl who'd led Teiresias in. Was that his grandchild? Or perhaps had he told her parents that he'd seen them letting him walk away with her as his employee and just… done it?

Megarion nudged Megara in the arm, and the solemnity in his eyes told his sister not to wander off into her thoughts as she was wont to do. Everyone else was pulling out their fresh wax tablets, and Megara obediently joined in.

Teiresias did not so much teach a coherent subject as he did ramble and expect everyone to remember what he'd said later. Just from the first hour-long droning lecture, Megara knew she would not enjoy the series ahead.

There were such comments as, "In many years, others will discover that the womb is an organ that wanders about a woman's body, causing her to exhibit a myriad of distempers."

Once she had written that down, Megara allowed herself to cringe at the idea of _any_ of her organs moving around her body without her say-so, let alone one so important. At least it wasn't her heart… right?

Just when Megara was thinking to herself that the lecture just might be eternal,, Teiresias exclaimed, "Never watch snakes mate!" and when everyone was stunned, he added, "Class dismissed!"'

The students were so confounded that for a time they merely stared at him with mouths gaping. As soon as they realized they were free, they ran from the room, anything to get away from the blind seer.

"Do we really have to attend his class?" Megara whispered to Megarion.

"From what I heard, the last time someone tried to leave, Teiresias told everyone all the most embarrassing things that would happen to the fellow. Don't you dare cross him, he'll tear you down, and we will never be able to sew you back together again."

Megara nodded to show her brother she would obey, and clung to his side as they proceeded to their next class.

" _Oh no_ …" Ismene groaned, and darted behind Megara and Megarion as the herd of students wandered in the direction of the gymnasium.

"We'll be fine," Megara insisted in an overly chirpy voice. "It's only the first day, they won't kill us today."

"Who says?" Ismene squeaked back.

"The teacher will surely notice we're not the most athletic sorts," Megarion said.

Atalanta had started near the back of the pack, but once she caught wind of the subject everyone was funneling towards she jogged to the head. "I'll squash all of you!" she declared over her shoulder. "I'll grind you into the dust!"

The reluctant trio groaned, and it was as they hung back in fear they noticed that Antigone was passing by on Haemon's arm.

"Teiresias?" Antigone asked.

Ismene was the first to nod as the twins just shuffled sheepishly.

Antigone and Haemon laughed over their memories of the past year and walked away, with Haemon only casting a quick sympathetic look their way.

"Wish Tiggy weren't so snooty all the time," Megara grumbled, but her bitterness could not last in the face of the open gymnasium doors.

"Hike up your skirts, ladies!" the female gymnasium teacher was saying from her half of the door as she passed out athletic girdles. "Half the usual length! Make sure your sandals are as tight as can be!"

Megara and Ismene gingerly took their girdles, but noticed that Atalanta was a short ways off prancing and twirling with her girdle on already.

"She wouldn't be so cocky if she realized all those men weren't looking at her out of envy," Megara whispered to Ismene, who blushed and covered her mouth to avoid saying something rude.

Megarion shuffled off to the other side of the amphitheater with the other young men, and the twins offered one another a shared awkward cringe before they were too far apart to see.

"All right, girls! We've got half of this track, so run on our little upsilon here, and the first to the end will—" Before she had even finished speaking, Atalanta had taken off, and had raised her hands over her head, cheering at the thrill.

Nobody chased after Atalanta, all the girls merely stared after her, and waited for her to run back to them.

"What do I win?" Atalanta asked, not even out of breath to the disgust of her classmates.

"The love and respect of all of us," the teacher replied with a syrupy smile, though one with lips pulled quite taut. "Speaking of which, girls, you'd better do just like Atalanta did, go on."

There was nobody who ran the course the way Atalanta had. In fact not a single Theban girl bothered to move a pace quicker than a skip.

On the other side of the course, the young men were running a relay race, but there was no such motivation after the showboating Atalanta had done.

"If I ever get as annoying as our cousin," Megara whispered to Ismene as the girls took an undeserved break, "kill me."


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4:

The palace was quiet when the herd of royal children was escorted back to it. Dinner was available, but it had gone cold sitting on the table between dining couches, so it was clear that the Theban government was in full assembly. That was where the palace focus was, and neither princes nor princesses made a peep of complaint, even if this _had been_ the first day away from their tutors for some.

As usual, each of them knew where to sit without being told. Megarion and Menoikeus sat on the couch beside Megara and Ismene. It had previously been that Haemon and Menoikeus would share a couch while Megarion and Megara sat together, and Antigone sat with Ismene, however once Haemon had been betrothed to Antigone, they had disrupted the whole arrangement.

Now, Haemon and Antigone cuddled up together on the couch, no matter how difficult it was getting for anyone else to pretend they didn't notice how affectionate they were getting.

Eteokles and Polynikes jostled each other on the furthest couch, the one that was usually between their parents and the couch reserved for diplomats.

The remaining one, empty beside Menoikeus and Megarion, was ordinarily occupied by Kreon and his wife, Eurydice.

"How was school for you?" Megara asked hesitantly, and offered a flicker of eye contact to everyone except for Polynikes and Eteokles.

"Pointless," Antigone dismissed with a quick pointed sniff.

Megara wished she could be so dismissive of what she truly found so intimidating. It was something she had always attempted to copy from her older cousin, but so far she hadn't succeeded.

"I enjoyed it," Megarion said between grapes. "But that may be due to being in an advanced placement lyre class. My teacher said I may qualify to compete for the chance to perform with Orpheus."

Megara, Ismene, and somehow Antigone all gasped in unison, while Menoikeus patted Megarion on the shoulder.

"I can't believe it! My brother and Orpheus!" Haemon rubbed his hands together eagerly. "Think of it! We'll finally have a success story in our family, and it'll give us all an excuse to travel!"

"All of us?" Megarion questioned.

"But of course! Tiggy and I wouldn't miss it, and you're my brother besides!"

"Orpheus is _so_ insightful," Antigone said with an air that carried the implication that she was somehow just as insightful for having noticed.

"And he composes with such skillful chords!" Megara added, feeling quite juvenile as she tried to keep up with Antigone and her intellectual edginess.

Ismene whispered such that only Megara could hear, saying, "I think he's hot."

The two of them shared a private smile, while conversation kicked up around them.

It was easy after that to let the patter of their relatives trading bits of gossip to one another shield them from having to speak up again.

When Antigone rose from her couch and walked from the room, Ismene and Megara knew that was their hint it was time to retire to bed. Antigone had always commanded their movements, so they made no argument, just smuggling large bunches of grapes an fried cakes back to their room.

On the way, they passed again through the interior courtyard and heard voices. They had risen since the group wandered to the dining room, so Megara did not spare so much guilt as she may have when she slowed her steps to listen in.

"No, Oedipus! We cannot afford it!" Kreon's voice, _her father's_ voice was loudest of all. "Ares will hold his grudge for an eternity! Something must be done before it is too late!"

"And who will you become to pay that price?" Oedipus demanded.

"That is none of our business," Antigone told Megara so sharply she blushed from her nose to her ears. "Get into the room, now, there's school tomorrow and you have to stop sleeping in as you do."

Megara bowed her head and slunk into her room. She had a basket beside her bed full of scrolls, and she quickly pulled one of those out so she could read while she hid her smuggled food behind the scroll.

Antigone slammed the bar which locked their door into place, a sound so familiar it had long ceased to surprise Megara. "It was a good day, girls. Try not to embarrass me tomorrow." With that, it was expected that neither of the younger girls would interrupt Antigone's sleep, which began as soon as she laid down her head.

Thus, Megara and Ismene shared a smile before the two of them read themselves to sleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5:

For all the assorted ways that school at Sphinx Gate Academy could be odd, for Thebans born and bred, it was somewhat easier to adjust to than it would have been for a stranger. The only thing that got on the whole more perplexing for Megara, were the tests from Teiresias.

Teiresias's predictions got no less obtuse, and while nobody expressly _wanted_ to hear what he had to say, they were equally perturbed when he cut off prematurely. The only thing worse than a prophecy nobody wanted was half of one, after all. Beyond his sense for prophecy, it seemed that Teiresias had a further sense, the sense of how to annoy and terrify someone all at once.

It was the stuff of school gossip as to whether he preferred to exercise one power or the other.

Nobody was safe from his predictions, as he had a habit of wandering the campus between classes. It was always at these times when students were up to the ordinary high school things, like studying, chattering, and ruining one another's lives and pretending they weren't that he would sneak up on them.

"You will have to run quickly when the flood comes," he would say to a glamorous cheerleader, and when she turned around with a, "What?" she would find him gone.

He had a habit of following after Polynikes, and chattering variations on, "Your name means many victories, but it's a lie!"'

Desperate students passed around petitions begging for his removal from the school, but Teiresias was the oldest and wisest man in all Thebes, and everyone else in a position of power was too afraid of what he might curse them with to do anything about him.

Thus it happened that when one day Teiresias cornered Atalanta, who was panting and doubled over from running around a track and could no longer flee him, and said, "You'd better be more friendly, soon, or nobody will remember you when you're a lioness," she took heed.

Atalanta had never been so still in her life as she was after hearing the blind prophet's words. For the first time, she sought out her cousins, and asked them, "Why do you think I'd become a lioness?"

"Probably a deity," Antigone said, finally interested in something besides the ends of her fingernails. "You're going to annoy one of them these days, and that'll be that."

"I don't think it'll be so bad," Ismene said, patting Atalanta's trembling hand.

"Maybe it'll be a reward for something grand," Megara offered, and received a smile from Ismene for supporting her efforts.

"Ah, yes!" Atalanta perked up. "A reward for being a great heroine! I'll be a lioness and roam the land in a body stronger even than this!"

"Oh, that's the priority, sure," Antigone grumbled. "You've just learned the gods will probably hate you someday and all you can do is puff yourself up? That's probably what they'll hate so much about you."

"Tiggy, try to be a nice person," Megara said, with an edge that almost sounded stern to her, but probably sounded more like a whine to Antigone.

" _You_ may not mind if someone you know is going to anger the gods, but _I_ am a pious princess, and I may even be a queen someday, so you can just sit back and learn something!" Antigone was the one who really knew what to say, to Megara's chagrin, and she'd won again.

Quailing away from Antigone in front of Atalanta was humiliating, but Megara had no choice. She felt herself shrinking in the estimation of everyone who'd seen her failure, but then mentally chastised herself for thinking she was important enough for anyone to notice her private drama.

What would the gods think of that? _She_ didn't want to turn into some nasty animal, so she would have to be careful.

"How likely is it that Teiresias will explain it if you tell him how much he scared you?" Ismene asked, gently kneading the silence where someone with a different temperament may have cut it.

Megara found herself joining in with the cold snickering that followed from Antigone and Atalanta, but hoped that a penitent blush would suffice as an apology.

"Does it bother anyone else that he's a teacher who hates teaching anything?" Megara asked, and noticed that a short distance away, her twin was approaching with his lyre under his arm, so she waved him over.

"He taught me about my name," Ismene said, even though she was grimacing and it didn't seem like she was happy to know about her name. "I'm… named after the dragon of Ares…"

"Mother always said it was because of the river," Antigone said, doing her best to be comforting.

"But Teiresias said it was the dragon!" Ismene had gone a little shrill, and no amount of arm patting and shushing could calm her nerves.

"What's wrong with being named after the dragon?" Atalanta asked. "You could stand a little toughness."

"We're all descended from its teeth," Megarion added when he was close enough to hear what they were discussing. He sat with them on the marble steps of the courtyard and stretched his legs out. He wasn't a marvelously tall young man, but his elegant features mirrored his twin's quite nicely. "I can sing you all a song about it. They're having tryouts for glee club soon, and I'm going to need the practice."

"You're going to join a peasant club?" Antigone asked, wrinkling her nose.

"I have to have credentials if I want to try and sing with Orpheus," Megarion shrugged. "If I don't perform, how will anyone know I can do it?"

"That makes sense," Megara said, eager to defend anything her brother said.

"You should try to join, too," Megarion told his sister. "It would be nice if someone taught you how to use your voice. It's very pretty when you let it be."

"I'm sure Alkides would come all the way back from Athens to hear you sing," Ismene supplied, making Megara blush hot as Hades's hair.

"That boy would do a lot of stupid things for you," Antigone added in by way of encouragement.

"Thanks," Megara offered as her begrudging effort to deflect more scorn.

"Hopefully they're teaching him something at Athens," Antigone continued, anyway.

"Alkides is a good friend," Megarion said, "but I happen to know he has a habit of doing stupid things whether or not Meggie is involved."

Megara elbowed Megarion while her face continued to radiate her embarrassment. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I should sing, after all."

"That doesn't solve my problem," Atalanta said. "I have to make friends, but all I'm really good at is fighting and running and all that."

"Why don't you try out to be a cheerleader?" Megara asked.

"A _cheerleader_?" Atalanta replied, her voice creeping up so high that the cheerleaders on the other end of the courtyard all turned their heads sharply.

"I'll try out with you if it makes you feel better," Megara said before she'd even thought it through.

Antigone burst into gales of laughter so powerful they knocked her over, and she lay writhing in the throes of her laughter as Megara scowled at her.

"And why shouldn't I try out?" Megara demanded.

"You? You can't even raise your voice above a mouse's squeak, and you want to be one of those obnoxious shouting prancers?"

"Maybe I do," Megara grumbled sourly.

"Oh, _how cute_!" Antigone snickered. "Look at you, you think you're proving a point. Go on, then, go and try, and if you fail, I'll be here waiting for something else to laugh at!"


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6:

Melpomene had it on good authority that she simply _could not_ miss cheerleading tryouts at Sphinx Gate, and thus she joined Terpsichore disguised as innocent statuary overlooking the field on which the hopeful girls congregated.

It was an odd day for Thebes. The sun was shining, but not scorching. The breeze off the Aegean added a brisk breath of energy, and in general, all the gods had conspired to ensure that for once, the Thebans had nothing to complain about.

This was the surest sign that tragedy was imminent.

The first of the girls to display her dancing talents was naturally Atalanta, who burst her way to the forefront with minimal resistance.

Melpomene heard Terpsichore sigh in resignation, and her sister mumbled, "No _grace_ … all strength and no _grace_ …"

It was true, there was perfection in the way Atalanta mirrored the movements demonstrated by senior members of the cheer squad, but each determined step seemed calculated to puncture a man's jugular.

For a huntress, sure, it was a chilling display of prowess, but for an entertainer? Melpomene could only critique half as enthusiastically as she may have on an ordinary day when tragedy would soon strike.

"Yes, well, that's enough, Atalanta," one of the cheer captains said, tapping her stylus nervously on the wax tablet she was keeping notes with. Melpomene wondered if she were too afraid to deny Atalanta when the repercussions could be swift and painful.

A quick succession of Theban girls, all long dark curls and dark eyes passed before the cheer leaders, until finally they reached the mousy shadow of Megara, who'd relinquished her spot in line to every other hopeful. Her cringing smile had been enough to make Melpomene despair of ever having much to sing about when it came to this princess, but that was before the tremors started.

Megara was just starting out, and even seemed half invested in even getting into the motions prescribed for her when the first hiccup escaped Gaia.

Mid-step, Megara fell flat on her face, but this was the least of the girls' concerns. Masonry was crumbling overhead, and the muses departed from their perches for another just before the overhanging balcony shot out from its moorings to crumble towards the students.

Screaming filled the air, and Melpomene and Terpsichore all but faded away like mist in sunlight. In spite of this, they still had enough influence to drag some of the girls out of direct trajectory of falling stone.

They did not successfully spare each of them. It was a chaotic scene of shaking and crumbling, and girls running in all directions. One girl's leg was broken upon impact with a chunk of stone, and another got a shard directly to her eye.

Within the school, the chaos was somewhat less intense, as earthquakes had shaken Sphinx Gate before, and they had taken precautionary measures. The walls were stronger, and bolstered up, unlike the half roof of the upper balcony.

Megara was just hobbling away from the place she'd fallen upon when the tremors ended. All around her, there were fallen girls who were dragging their wounded husks away from their own points of impact.

"What… just happened?" Atalanta asked, jogging back to the others leaving a dazed hopeful cheerleader in the spot she had carried her to.

"I think… earthquake," Megara said, the stupor of the sudden tremor wearing off.

Melpomene turned to Terpsichore. "I think it's time we were off. Someone has to see to these girls, but our talents do not… are you crying?"

"Some of them won't want to dance again…" Terpsichore whispered.

Melpomene sighed and patted her sister's shoulder. "All right, let's get you home."


End file.
